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warspite1 -> RE: Bob Flemin's MWIF AARse IV - Nice AArse (8/30/2014 7:31:37 AM)
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May/Jun 1942
Impulse: 2
The RN provides a show of strength in the Eastern Mediterranean led by HMS Warspite which provides distant cover for a key military convoy - The advance guard of a "huge" Allied Expeditionary Force (yeah right [8|]) is being transported to Greece. "Do not worry peeps of Greece - the 4th Motorised Corps is here!
Write-up for the 4th Motorised Corps:
This corps was formed in Scotland in January 1940 under Lieutenant-General Claude Auchinleck. At this time the British and French were tentatively looking at ways to stop the supply of Iron Ore from Sweden to Germany. Realistically the only way of doing this on a permanent basis was to land troops in neutral Norway, and then send them overland to Sweden.
Clearly, this was a difficult thing to attempt given that the Allies were fighting the Germans in the name of freedom! As an excuse for this operation, the British and French would state they were providing assistance to Finland in their war with the Soviet Union (although there was no intention of providing such help).
In the end the plan was not carried out, and the Germans beat the Allies to a landing in Norway. Although the British and French did react to the German invasion, 4th Corps itself was never employed there and the inadequate force actually deployed was forced to retreat after a very humiliating campaign.
Thereafter the British IV Corps was put to work training most of the armoured reserves preparing to face the proposed German invasion of Britain. It had the 2nd and 9th Armoured Divisions under its command together with other independent armoured brigades.
When the Japanese entered the war on 7th December 1941, the corps was sent to India and became the 4th Indian Corps, part of the British Indian Army fighting as part of 14th Army. 4th Indian Corps under Lt-General G Scoones would be heavily involved in the vital Imphal Kohima battle (Mar-Jun 1944) when the Japanese attacked in order to destroy the airfields supplying the Chinese army.
During this battle its three Divisions came under intense pressure for over 2 months and ultimately held their positions around Imphal but it was a close run thing and the 17th Division came close to being surrounded and destroyed. Having held firm, 4th Corps was able to resume the offensive once reinforcements had arrived.
This battle ultimately saw the heaviest defeat in the history of the Japanese army.
For Imphal Kohima the 4th Corps had the following Divisions under command:
• 17th Indian Infantry Division (48th and 63rd Indian Brigades)
• 20th Indian Infantry Division (32nd, 80th and 100th Indian Brigades)
• 23rd Indian Infantry Division (1st, 37th (Gurkha) and 49th Indian Brigades)
• 254th Indian Tank Brigade (3rd Carabineers, 3rd Bn 4th Bombay Grenadiers, 7th Light Cavalry, 11th
P.A.V.O Cavalry and 150th Royal Armoured Corps Regt)
In 1945 the Corps was re-organised as a Mechanized unit under Lt-General Frank Messervy. The Corps was involved in the battle of Meiktila and then spearheaded the capture of Rangoon, the Burmese capital. The units within the corps for these operations were:
• 7th Indian Infantry Division (33rd, 114th and 161st Indian Brigades)
• 17th Indian Infantry Division (48th, 63rd and 99th Indian Brigades)
• 19th Indian Infantry Division (replaced by 5th Indian Infantry Division (9th, 123rd, and 161st Indian Brigades))
• 255th Indian Tank Brigade (110th Royal Armoured Corps Regt, 5th K.E.O Lancers, 16th Light Cavalry, 4th
Bn 4th Bombay Grenadiers)
After Rangoon, the unit spent the remainder of the war mopping up remaining Japanese from Burma.
• Key Campaigns: Burma (1943-1945)
[image]local://upfiles/28156/12BDA3D6851C4F8AA465515E1F56B3CC.jpg[/image]
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